1816 – The Ship Rebecca, carrying wine from Cadiz to Savannah, was caught in a hurricane and wrecked on the Florida Reef. The crew managed to reach Tavernier Key in a small boat; the ship went to pieces.
1863 – The steamer James Battle arrived at Key West from Tampa with escaped “contraband” enslaved people, and lumber and iron from Cedar Key.
1899 – Officials at Key West reported 12 new cases of yellow fever and no new deaths, leading some to believe the outbreak was abating.
1911 – William Kerr, the leading architect/builder of Key West, died at age 75. Some of his major projects were the Monroe County Courthouse, the Custom House and the First National Bank at the corner of Duval and Front streets.
1916 – The Cuban gunboat Patria arrived at Key West to convey the body of Cuban Sanitation Minister Dr. Enrique Nunez to Havana. Nunez had died in New York and his body was brought to Key West by train.
1919 – The U.S. Navy Subchaser SC 203 found the wreckage of the Spanish passenger liner Valbanera on Half Moon Shoals. The liner was last sighted on September 9 when it was turned away from Havana Harbor because of hurricane winds. No trace was every found of the more than 300 passengers and crew of the ship making the Hurricane of 1919 the third deadliest storm to hit the United States.
1935 – The Morgan liner Dixie was pulled off French Reef at 1 a.m. after having grounded there in the Labor Day hurricane. Dixie had struck the reef with 384 souls onboard, though all but a skeletal crew to aid salvage were taken off just a few days after the storm.
1952 – Corporal Henry Carey, U.S. Army, was killed in action in Korea.
1982 – Monroe County Mayor George E. Dolezal dedicated the new Marathon Branch Library. Also on hand was former Key West Mayor Sonny McCoy, who discovered the state money used to finance the project.
2003 – Mural artist Wyland began restoration of his “Key West Whaling Wall” on the side of the Waterfront Market/Reef Relief building at the Key West Bight. It had first been painted in 1993.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: The Spanish steamer Valbanera. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.